


Chocolate Cake

by unacaritafeliz



Series: Birthday baking [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Falling In Love, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slowly tho, Wholesome for these two, the cake is a metaphor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27188659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: There's three dark, rich looking chocolate cakes sitting on cooling racks on the countertop, and Dex doesn't really know what to make of them. All available evidence points towards them being made for Dex's birthday, but that wouldn't make sense at all.After all, why would Nursey bake anything for Dex? Like sure, Dex did make Nursey that rhubarb pie back in February, but making birthday pie is practically Dex's job. There's no real reason for Nursey to reciprocate that.[After Bitty graduates, Dex thinks he'll only get a birthday pie if he bakes it himself. He's right, but only technically].
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Series: Birthday baking [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966384
Comments: 11
Kudos: 141





	Chocolate Cake

**Author's Note:**

> You don't need to read the first part for this to make sense, but you should, because Derek deserves it.

Dex has always planned to make his own birthday pie, ever since Bitty graduated and he took over responsibility of making birthday pies. It does seem kind of pathetic, to be making his own birthday pie, but with Foxtrot drowning in essays and Bitty too busy to make it back to Samwell before Hausgiving, he doesn't really have any other choice. It's not like he could just go without a birthday pie. They're a SMH tradition, and he deserves one as much as anyone else on the team.

His birthday baking plans are promptly derailed, however, when he steps into the Haus kitchen on his birthday, a bag of stop-and-shop butter hanging from his arm, and finds Derek Nurse standing at the countertop, with flour in his curls and melted chocolate on his cheekbone, whisking something in a large metal bowl that he's cradling in his arms.

It's not the first time Dex has seen Nursey in the kitchen, but that doesn't make him any less surprised to see him there.

"Uh, hey, Nursey?" he asks.

Nursey jumps, looking up at Dex with wide eyes, looking every bit like a kid that got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. His methodical whisking stops only for a moment before he resumes the motion, with the faintest hint of a blush visible on his cheeks.

"Oh, hey, Cap," says Nursey. He glances down at the bowl in his hands and back to Dex. "I didn't think you'd be home so soon."

"My class got out early," Dex replies, as he steps up to the counter to get a better look at what Nursey's doing.

There's three dark, rich looking chocolate cakes sitting on cooling racks on the countertop, and Dex doesn't really know what to make of them. All available evidence points towards them being made for Dex's birthday, but that wouldn't make sense at all. After all, why would _Nursey_ bake anything for _Dex_? Like sure, Dex did make Nursey that rhubarb pie back in February, but making birthday pie is practically Dex's job. There's no real reason for Nursey to reciprocate that.

"Well, I guess this ruins the surprise," says Nursey, as he keeps whisking. "But happy birthday, Dexington."

It takes a moment for that to really sink in, that Nursey really made these cakes for him. It still doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's hard to argue against the evidence right in front of his eyes.

"I know pies are more traditional," Nursey continues. "But this is kind of the only dessert I know how to make."

He sounds apologetic, like it's some terrible thing, that he's here in the kitchen, covered in flour, baking a cake for Dex's birthday. Like the fact that Dex is actually getting a baked birthday gift from anyone this year is anything short of incredible.

"It looks great, Nursey," he says softly, and Nursey gives him a small, pleased smile in response. "Can I help you out with anything?"

"Nah," says Nursey. "Some company would be nice though, if you're not busy."

"I'm not busy," Dex says.

He steps around Nursey to put his butter in the fridge, glancing briefly at the tower of dirty utensils in the sink. He's not mad about the mess, not yet at least, but he does think he should help wash up. It would be the least he could do, considering how much effort Nursey's putting into this, but Nursey had explicitly told him not to help, so he slinks back around to sit at the counter instead.

They're still learning how to be around each other; how to chirp but not overstep, how to tiptoe around the scars they've left on each other in the past. They've got a long way to go, but they're trying. They keep showing up for each other, keep forgiving each other, and their friendship gets stronger every day. 

That's enough for Dex, for now.

"I've never seen you bake before," Dex comments, as Nursey continues stirring the bowl. His tattoo moves and flexes with each movement, in a strangely hypnotising way, and Dex finds he has to consciously pull his gaze away from the rippling ink to watch his d-man's face.

"I don't do it a lot," Nursey says with a shrug. "Only for special occasions."

Nursey winks and Dex rolls his eyes, grinning. It's a familiar interaction between them. It has been for years.

Dex doesn't have much experience with cake making, so he looks around, for a cookbook or phone, wanting to read the recipe, but he can't see one anywhere.

"Who taught you?" Dex asks.

Nursey glances up, his eyes narrowed at Dex almost imperceptibly, as if deciding whether he's going to trust Dex with his part of himself. Dex doesn't look away from him, schooling his face into the most earnest look he can manage.

"My grandfather," Nursey says, eventually. There's a small smile on his face, one that usually appears when he's talking about his family. "I used to help him make it for my birthday, when I was a kid."

Last family weekend, Derek's big sister Farrah had come down from Boston and shown the team a plethora of old photographs that Nursey had very much not wanted them to see. That's how Dex knows how to picture a five year old Derek Malik Nurse, with chubby cheeks and a puff of dark curly hair, sitting on top of a kitchen counter stirring a bowl of buttercream bigger than himself.

It's a very cute thing to imagine.

"That must have been fun," Dex comments, softly

"Yeah, it was," says Nursey, just as soft. He picks the whisk, nods once at the chocolate coloured mixture, and places the bowl and whisk down on the counter. "Farrah never wanted to learn, so I think he was really glad to pass it onto me."

Nursey walks over to the cupboard and pulls out a pretty, white cake stand that Dex didn't even know they owned. He brings it back to the counter and puts a pat of cream in the middle of it, carefully putting one of the cakes on top. Dex watches closely; having never seen a cake being assembled like this before.

"What's the best tip he gave you?" he asks, curious.

Nursey grins as he spreads buttercream over the top of the cake. "That the cheaper ingredients are nearly always as good as the expensive ones," Nursey says. "But the good chocolate is always worth splurging on."

Dex chuckles as Nursey stacks the second cake onto his tower. It's nice, sometimes, to remember that Nursey's family has bought cheap ingredients too. He knows now, of course, that none of Nursey's parents were anywhere as rich as he'd thought they were - not even Nursey's dad, Jonathan, who was the only one to actually inherit his wealth. They're much better off than the Poindexters, for sure, but not so much that they throw their money around carelessly.

"Can't believe he actually had to tell you that," Dex says, teasing. "It's just common sense, Nurse."

"I think he thought I'd end up bougie like my dad," says Nursey. There's a beat as he stacks the last cake on the tower, and begins spreading frosting onto the top and sides of the tower. "I mean, I kind of did? But in my defense, the Nurse genes are very stubborn. I think it's the 'can I speak to a manager?' in us."

Dex snorts. Neither Jonathan nor Derek Nurse are anything close to 'bougie', but Dex is legally not allowed to point that out. "You mean, you think it's the white in you," he says.

"Chyeah," Nursey agrees, as he finishes frosting the cake with a neat flick of his wrist. "I think it's the white in us."

Nursey opens the drawer under the counter and pulls out a reusable piping bag. It's yet another thing that Dex didn't know they owned. As Nursey fills the bag with the remaining icing, Dex wonders what else he hasn't been noticing. Apparently he hasn't been noticing a lot.

Nursey bites his lip in concentration as he pipes the frosting onto the cake, using a convoluted twisting technique that looks simple under Nursey's careful control. It's a stark contrast to how Dex bakes, since he always focuses on the taste rather than the aesthetics. He wonders if he could get Nursey to teach him about cake decorating, sometime. It seems like a fun skill to learn. 

"Wow," says Dex, when the icing ring is completed and Nursey's put the icing bag down to examine his work. "That's really pretty, Nurse."

"Yo, it's not even done yet," Nursey says. Dex can hear the pride in his voice and can't stop himself from smiling at it. Nursey holds up a packet of sprinkles, his green eyes sparkling with excitement. "My little sisters always insist on sprinkles."

Nursey empties the sprinkles into a bowl, and carefully begins pressing them to the side of the cake. He's found a very artsy packet of sprinkles somewhere, the pieces are an aesthetically pleasing combination of sizes and colours and shapes. The most eye-catching things are the several large red pieces that kind of look like...

"Oh my god," says Dex, reaching out to pluck one from the bowl. "Are those lobsters?"

Nursey doesn't look up, but he smiles as he continues artistically placing the sprinkles on the cake. He's doing it a lot more carefully than Dex would've done, ensuring the sprinkles are dense along the bottom, and neatly spaced along the top and sides, giving the impression that they're falling down like rain or, probably more accurately, leaves. Dex smiles as he pops the lobster-shaped sprinkle into his mouth.

Nursey purses his lips as he turns the cake, examining it closely, before he pours the remaining sprinkles onto the top of the cake.

"One last touch," Nursey says. He crosses over to the fridge and takes out a plate, nestling whatever was resting on it on top of the cake. "Okay, now it's done. What do you think?"

The apprehensive way Nursey asks the question is almost incompatible with the cake that Nursey spins to face him. Three layers tall and covered in chocolate buttercream and lobster-shaped sprinkles, the cake is crowned with a small rectangle of chocolate, decorated with the words ' _Happy Birthday Dexy_ ' in Nursey's pretty handwriting.

Dex feels his breath catch in his throat. He doesn't even know how to begin expressing what he thinks of it. Fifteen minutes ago he thought he'd have to make his own birthday pie, and now he has _this_.

"Nurse," says Dex, softly. He can't tear his eyes away from the gorgeous cake in front of him. "This is amazing."

"It's chill," says Nursey, dismissively, and Dex finally glances up at his d-partner. "You made me that rhubarb pie for my birthday, this is the same thing."

It's not the same thing. It's not even _close_ to being the same thing. This cake is so much more than the simple rhubarb pie Dex had haphazardly thrown together for Nursey's last birthday, even taking into account the ridiculous amount of time he'd had spent on his pastry leaves. This cake is art. It's everything Dex has ever wanted and nothing that he deserves, especially not from Nursey, not after everything they've been through.

"No," Dex says, shaking his head softly. "It's not the same thing, Derek."

Nursey ducks his head, a small, slightly bashful smile on his face.

"Chill," he says, sounding pleased, and Dex wonders when he began to distinguish the different ways Nursey told him to chill. "I was thinking we could save it until after dinner."

Oh right, Dex thinks, dinner. In his glee about not having to make his own birthday pie (or cake, as it turned out), he'd completely forgot about the fact he needed to make his own birthday dinner. He's not planning anything too complicated, but he still needs to cook enough to feed a dozen hungry hockey players, their associated datemates, and their tiny team manager.

"Sure, that's fine," says Dex, slightly deflated. "Wanna help me out with dinner? I'll help you wash up."

"I'll take the offer to help wash up," says Nursey, putting the utensils on the counter into a bowl and moving over to the sink. "But as for dinner… I think C&C were going to grab some pizza on their way home after class, crowd funded by the team and our hockey legend ex-captain, of course. mean, if that's okay with you, that is."

Nursey sounds hesitant and unsure and for good reason - Dex would usually object to his teammates buying him anything. But when he thinks about it, pizza isn't that expensive, especially not when Jack's contributing, and Dex thinks it might be kind of nice to let his friends treat him this one time.

He thinks he might even deserve it.

"Do you wanna play Mario Kart with me after we've washed up, then?" Dex asks.

Nursey grins, and flicks the tap on. "Yeah," he says. "I'd like that."

Dex smiles and grabs a tea-towel from the drawer to help Nursey finish cleaning up the kitchen, seeing his d-man in a bit of a new light. It wasn't that Dex didn't already know that Nursey was kind and generous to the people he cared about, he just didn't realise how much Nursey cared about him.

Maybe Dex is seeing himself in a bit of a different light too.

He smiles.

Maybe 21 will be a good year.

**Author's Note:**

> It may be Dex's birthday, but I wrote this fic for Derek 💕
> 
> I actually started this fic the week the comic ended, six months ago back in April, and finished it six days ago, because that's who I am as a person.
> 
> Anyway the cake is inspired by this one from [Sugar and Sparrow](https://sugarandsparrow.com/chocolate-cake-recipe/), and the lobster sprinkles I found in April are no longer available, but you can see them on [Sprinkle Pop's Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ZUdqQnmWH/?igshid=28ijoc9nl8up).
> 
> Please leave me a comment, I love you BYE


End file.
